


The Shell Collector

by innersanctuaries



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bittersweet, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 04:46:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14394591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/innersanctuaries/pseuds/innersanctuaries
Summary: A conversation between Life and Death.





	The Shell Collector

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so fuckin happy, the Big Bang draft deadline was extended!! In celebration of that, my brain decided to make this little guy.
> 
> Yeeeaaaaahhhh okay so you'd think that this would be about the new Gabriel episodes, but apparently my brain decided it doesn't want that. I'll get around to it eventually, y'all. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I've said it before but I'll say it again for this fic, but anything that isn't a forgotten quotation mark or horrendously misspelled is on purpose. I'm not forgetting people's names or what name I gave them, it's on purpose!!
> 
> Song inspo is Jealous by Labrinth and Blackroom by Daise
> 
> Jealous: https://youtu.be/uPEu4nDTmMM
> 
> Blackroom: https://youtu.be/L6zIA6__QPE

 He walked along the beach on a blue-grey bad-weather day, leaving footprints in the snow-white sand. His golden eyes were trained on the ground, searching for shells to add to the armful he already carried. One by one, he gently picked them from the damp-dry earth and admired each of them in the dull sunlight barely filtering through the clouds. 

 

 His favorites were the bright, multicolor shells as big as his hand. Those he left for another day, until the melancholy moment he’d find them broken. The ocean breeze ruffled his hair, and each strand that fell to the floor created yet another fissure in the crust of the human’s earth. Furrowing his brow, he collected the shells that appeared by it. Earthquake days always filled his arms with more shells than others. 

 

 Every so often, his arms would fill to the brim and a shell or five would fall back to nestle in the sand. Whenever they did, a stopped heart would beat again, someone’s eyes would open once more to thank every being above for granting them another day of life. Their grateful whispers always made him huff out a laugh and shake his head before getting back to the task at hand. He would come to pick their shell up again one day, Death was never one to leave matters unresolved.

 

 The longer he walked, the fewer shells he found, all until they disappeared entirely. Groaning, Death scanned the beach for  _ him. _ Narrowing his eyes, he stomped towards the man sitting in the wet sand with a pile of shells nearly as tall as he was. The water washed over his outstretched legs, taking a few precious shells from the pile and tossing them far into the sea.

 

 “Are you really doing this  _ again? _ ” Death asked, thunder booming in the distance. He wrinkled his nose at the feeling of the cold water wetting his feet. 

 

 Life lifted his opalescent blue eyes to meet Death’s, a soft smile spreading across his face. The ocean withdrew, unable to handle the unrivaled beauty of the incredible being just sitting there. 

 

“How else am I supposed to get you here with me?” Eyes dancing with amusement, Life pat the ground next to him, an invitation for Death to sit next to him. The water happily threw itself at his hand, desperate for his touch. 

 

 Death plopped down next to him with a huff, elbowing Life in the ribs annoyedly when he threw yet another shell out to sea. “Stop doing that! I need those!”

 

“They still have some time left, I promise,” Life mussed his hair up and laughed at the scowl that earned him. “You can take a break, Earth won’t explode if you let a few people live a little longer.”

 

 “If I take a break and it explodes, they’ll all end up living anyway,” Life was warm. Once upon a time, Death had been warm too. Now, he was nothing. He supposed he was cold, but he couldn’t feel it. But warmth, that he could feel. 

 

“C’mere, you’re freezing,” Pulling Death into his lap, Life held him close enough for Death to hear his heart beating. He didn’t have one of those anymore either. His warmth was gone, and so was his heart. Even so, he felt a fluttering in his chest when Life pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “I missed you.”

 

 “I missed you too,” He whispered. If he talked too loudly, he’d hear the voice he had on Earth. He wasn’t the owner of that voice anymore.

 

 Life noticed. He always noticed.

 

“You can still talk, you know?” Death nodded silently, avoiding his eyes. “Gabriel, come on.”

 

 “You can’t call me that anymore, it’s not me,” Death-Gabriel said sadly. “I’m Death now, kid.”

 

 He glanced up long enough to see the hurt flit across Life’s face. Hurting was the only thing he knew how to do now, for Death was not kind. Death-Gabriel may have been, but all those before him had not. Though he left his own footprints in the sand, he still had to follow in theirs. 

 

“I’m still Sam. They might call me Life now, but I’m still Sam. I always will be,” Life-Sam said, throwing a big blue shell as far past the foamy waves as he could. Death-Gabriel knew it’d take a while for it to come back. “Just like you’ll always be Gabriel.”

 

 “You can say that because you’re still good. I’m not.”

 

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Life-Sam pet his hair like he always used to. Death-Gabriel couldn’t keep himself from smiling and practically purring. 

 

 “Life is good and loved, but Death is feared and hated,” He said bitterly. 

 

“I don’t hate you, Gabe.”

 

 “You should.”

 

“Yeah, no,” Life-Sam scoffed, leaning over to look Death-Gabriel in the eye. “You didn’t have a say in this, but I lo-”

 

 “Death isn’t something to be attached to, Sam!” Death-Gabriel cut him off, screwing his eyes shut to keep from looking at Sam’s face. 

 

 If he didn’t see the blue galaxy eyes, see the inhuman lack of pupils or white scleras, he could pretend he was back on Earth for a little while. They were on the warm beach in South America, sitting in the surprisingly warm surf. Not somewhere neither of them knew of, somewhere disconnected from Earth, from their old life.

 

“Too bad, Angel,” Soft lips pressed against his, kind and comforting. “I’m attached to you, and that won’t change.”

 

 “I’m not an angel,” He choked out, unable to stop the shining gold tears from rolling down his cheeks. Rivulets of ichor dripped into the ocean and dissipated into the clear blue water. “I’m a monster.”

 

“You’re my angel, and that’s what counts,” Sam held him close, sniffling. Gabriel looked up and wiped the glittering tears from his beloved’s face. Burying his face in Gabriel’s shoulder, Sam huffed out a laugh. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be crying.”

 

 “You’re allowed to cry, Sammy.”

 

“I just love you so much, and I feel like I’m losing you,” Gabriel started at the first drops of rain that went  _ plip-plip-plip  _ on his head. “Please come back to me. Stop leaving me, come be with me.”

 

 Gabriel pulled Sam in tighter as his chest heaved, his hands bunched in Gabriel’s shirt. He held on like he used to when he fell asleep next to Gabriel on their too-small bed with the power rangers sheets and avengers pillowcase. Rain poured down, telling their empty world that Life was in pain. It punished Gabriel for hurting him, matting his hair to his forehead. 

 

 “I’m sorry,” He rubbed Sam’s back, the way he had since they were kids. “I don’t want to make you like me, Sammy.”

 

“You won’t. Not if you stay with me,” Sam’s breathing was evening out, the rain was subsiding. “Just stay with me.”

 

 He was Death. He unforgivingly took the lives that Sam happily gave. One day, every shell Sam sent to sea, he would find them and take them with him. It was his job. Death was not kind, and everyone knew that. 

 

 But he was also Gabriel. He loved the lives that Sam gave. In a way, Sam had been the one to give him a life, one that they’d lived together. One that they could keep living together. He could make it his job. Gabriel was kind, and Sam knew that.

 

 “I want to stay.”

 

 Crawling off of Sam’s lap, he could have sworn that he felt a bit of his own warmth come back. The sun peeked out from behind the gloomy blue-grey bad-weather clouds, but it was overshadowed by the brightness of Sam’s smile. 

 

“Really?” Sam’s excitement made Gabriel’s heart twist. He nodded, throwing Sam a grin for the first time in far too long.

 

 “Really,” Gabriel sighed deeply, exhaling some of the darkness he’d let into himself over the past years. “I love you, Samshine.”

 

 Sam turned to the sun and thanked it for the way it lit up the golden being next to him. Humans thought that Death was dark and soulless black, eyes of a demon and claws of a wolf. They were wrong. Death was a beautiful angel that shone brighter than anything in any and every possible universe. Death was gold wings and amber eyes, sparkling skin and shining hair. 

 

“I love you too, Gabriel,” Sam kissed him sweetly and scooted closer to him, splashing Gabriel with the water that washed over their legs. 

 

 They slipped into a comfortable silence, Sam holding Gabriel with one arm and tossing shells into the water with the other. Picking up a shell laying next to him, Gabriel examined it closely in his hand. 

 

 It wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t the prettiest. It was close to breaking, based on the hairline cracks running through it. In fact, it was exactly the kind of shell he collected. He stared for only a second longer before tapping it with one finger, restoring it to its former glory. The shell shone, and he could hear the relief of the human it belonged to. 

 

 Gabriel stared out at the horizon, the pink-orange sun coloring the cotton candy clouds and the dancing waves. Leaning his head on Sam’s shoulder, he let himself be reassured by the comforting squeeze Sam gave his arm. He threw the shell as far as he could, a satisfied smile gracing his lips when it disappeared from sight. 

 They would live to see another day, for Death could be kind. After all, without Life, how could Death exist?

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure exactly where this one came from, but it happened and I'm diggin it, so I'm posting it. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please comment feedback, it helps keep me motivated and helps me know what you guys do and don't like!
> 
> Follow me on Instagram at @archangelica_angelica or on tumblr at innersanctuaries if you want to get in touch or just to watch me shitpost!


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